Samson as a Tragic Hero

Samson as a Tragic Hero

Samson, the protagonist of the play, "Samson Agonistes" by John Milton, is a tragic figure who was a Hebrew by birth. At his birth it had been prophesied that he would perform some noble deeds for the deliverance of his people. Therefore, he was made a Nazarite, that is to say a person whose life is dedicated to the service of God and his chosen people. He was a man of superhuman power and strength but he fell down from his high position and ultimately died for making a mistake and thus he was made a tragic hero. Whether Samson is a tragic hero or not, can be evaluated from the oldest theory of tragedy and tragic hero. These things are given below:-

A tragic hero is a character in a work of fiction (often the protagonist) who commits an action or makes a mistake which eventually leads to his or her defeat. The idea of the tragic hero was created in ancient Greek tragedy and defined by Aristotle (and others).

Aristotelian tragic hero: Aristotle once said that "A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." An Aristotelian tragic hero must have four characteristics: Nobility (of a noble birth) or wisdom (by virtue of birth). Hamartia (translated as flaw, mistake, or error, not an Elizabethan tragic flaw). A reversal of fortune (peripetia) brought about because of the hero's Hamartia. The discovery or recognition that the reversal was brought about by the hero's own actions (anagnorisis).

Other common traits (Some other common traits; characteristic of a tragic hero):

# Hero must suffer more than he deserves.
# Hero must be doomed from the start, but bear no responsibility for possessing his flaw.
# Hero must be noble in nature, but imperfect so that the audience can see themselves in him.
# Hero must have discovered his fate by his own actions, not by things happening to him.
# Hero must see and understand his doom, as well as the fact that his fate was discovered by his own actions.
# Hero's story should arouse fear and empathy.
# Hero must be physically or spiritually wounded by his experiences, often resulting in his death.
# Ideally, the hero should be a king or leader of men, so that his people experience his fall with him.
# The hero must be intelligent so he may learn from his mistakes.
# A tragic hero usually has the following sequence of "Great, Good, Flaw, Recognition, Downfall."

Samson as a Tragic Hero: In the conversation with Samson and Manoa, Samson and the Chorus, Samson and Dalila, Samson and Harpha, we come to know that Samson's birth was noble and he was a noble man who was above the people around him. Moreover, he was a man of superhuman strength. And the fate of the whole Israel was depending upon his activities. Actually it was foretold twice by an Angel that he should serve for Israelites. Samson says, "Oh; wherefore was my birth from Heaven foretold/ Twice by an Angel........../........../His presence, and from some great act/ Of benefit revealed to Abrahim's race". And therefore in his after years he did some extraordinary deeds. For example once in a war, he killed thousands of his enemies with jaw bone of an ass as his weapon. Moreover, once he "tore the lion as the lion tears the kid" while he was "unarmed". In the battle with the Philistines, Samson was once caught and he was bound with cords, but cords were to him as insignificant as cotton threads to fire. Thus, unarmed, he knocked down the bravest youth of the Philistines. He says, "But cords to me were threads/ Touched with the flame."

But such a strong man fell down from his high position for making a mistake or for committing a wrong action. In the Greek tragedies we see that the major tragic heroes made mistakes and that caused their downfall. This mistake or cause was known as Hamartia or in Elizabethan drama, tragic flaw. As a tragic hero he has tragic flaw. In case of Samson we find the same thing. Here in the “Samson Agonistes”, the Renaissance concept (character) is responsible for the tragic flaw of Samson. In the drama, Samson committed a wrong by marring a lady of opposite party. This marriage was his tragic flaw because he was urged not to marry her. Dalila, after playing a good role of an ideal wife, tactfully proved her self treacherous by extracting from him his great secret. And revealing the secret of Samson's strength becomes a part of his tragic flow.

Samson Agonistes plays out the final part of Samson's life, in which he is chained in Gaza. He was tricked by his lover Dalila, his hair was shorn, and he lost his God- given strength. He is a slave and he is torn with the guilt that he betrayed God by giving it the secret he was commanded to keep close (that he source of his strength was his hair). Here we find how Samson is suffering for his mistakes. As we know that he tragic hero suffers a lot for committing a small guilt, we find its similar expression here. His downfall came when he fell in love in Dalila and her innocent flirtation quickly became a serious matter. As soon as Samson revealed his secret to his wife, his wife exposed that to the Philistines. And now In Gaza at the day of festival we see Samson's carelessness. It his really very tragic when we see, a man endowed with heavenly power who was capable to captivate the whole world, but now he is "blind among enemies" desiring help from a little boy, because of his physical blindness. He says now "The sun to me is dark/ And silent as the moon" Again he says, " O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon./Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse/Without all hope of day."This suffering is also the suffering of mind that gives rise to hopelessness and frustration like the sufferings of the Mariner in Coleridge's "The Rhyme of The Ancient Mariner" where the Mariner says, “Alone, alone, all alone/ Alone on a wide, wide sea" or “Water, water, everywhere/ And all the boards did shrink/ Water, water, everywhere/ Nor any drop to drink." Moreover for his sufferings he was in such a condition that even his own father was unable to recognize him.

Pity, fear and kindred feelings which are also known as pathos, through the miserable condition, Samson wins the pity of the audiences or readers. At first pity is roused when we come to know that he is confined in
a jail. It is deepened when Samson himself identifies his present position- "Times past, that once I was, and what an now." It raises its peak (climax) when the helplessness of Samson reveals out through his monologue, and finally when he is died. At the end of the play Samson died and that incident shades our tears. But his death is not an ordinary death, it is glorious and remarkable and his fame will live after his death, just as the young Phoenix, which is born out of the ashes of the old one, lives on for centuries. As the chorus says, “And though her body die, her fame survives, / A secular bird, ages of lives." However, his death makes him a tragic hero.

In the concluding part it can be said that Samson is a true tragic hero. And Samson Agonistes is a pure tragedy. Actually this play is modelled blindly on Aristotelian theory of Tragedy. Samson, as hero, completes the requirements of a tragic hero.